Skyfall Review

A Sneak Peek At Skyfall

It’s the 50th anniversary of his first silver screen appearance, he had a starring role at the London Olympic celebrations and currently sits atop our Top 49 Most Influential Men.

Luckily, Skyfall more than justifies why 2012 is 007’s year — under director Sam Mendes sharp eye, this is the smartest, classiest, most electrifying and just plain fun Bond flick since the ‘60s.

Skyfall centers around a dark — or blonde — figure from M’s past who comes back to haunt her. Javier Bardem’s surprise-filled Silva ratchets up the danger level as he sets his crosshairs with unpredictable Joker-ish menace on MI6’s chief, played as ever with a complex mix of inscrutability and passion by Dame Judi Dench.

It’s also the most self-referential Bond movie ever, with an attaché case filled with nods and winks to earlier films — although the third-act drive down memory lane might have been a misjudgment as it fumbles for a higher gear but arrives at sentiment instead.

Bond fans will most assuredly be delighted, though. For the first time, this curiously blank cinematic icon starts to look human thanks to a risky script and another layered, scarred performance by Daniel Craig.

His forceful, bruising take on Britain’s top secret agent propels the entire film forward. It’s a definitive take on Bond; Craig puts his fingerprints on the role as surely as if it were 007’s customized Walther PPK.

The specter of death hangs over the whole movie. After his pre-credit mission goes awry, a haggard, injured Bond returns "from the grave" as he’s compelled to reenter the spy game and protect M, which he does with typical Bond swagger despite his bloodshot eyes, shaking trigger finger and shabby shaving regime.

While Skyfall’s hero does show his age, a Bond movie has never looked so good. MVP cinematographer Roger Deakins makes London, Macau, neon Shanghai and the eerie Scottish Highlands all look IMAX-perfect, while a silhouetted fistfight could have come straight from Tarantino.

But make no mistake, Skyfall remains every inch a traditional Bond spectacle, replete with exotic locations, Bond girls, barking villains, big stunts — the opening sequence in Turkey is a carnage-strewn classic — and even the reintroduction of Q.

While Skyfall might explore the past, its real success is in looking to the future; the movie promises that James Bond will return, and, as a result, the whole franchise feels re-energized, relevant and ready for action.